Category: general

Where I put something when I’m too lazy to categorize it.

Posted on

the pilot says

Hi internet. It’s Thursday, and the guys came over tonight for a dinner of grilled bratwurst and pizza rolls. I mean, what’s a group of guys to do when their better halves all gang up and go to some “chicks only” soirée? Anyway, it was a wild party… we watched the democratic debate. Yeah, we’re old as sin. Old as sin. Let’s get to writing.

I was searching my memory the other day, trying to figure out when I first flew on a plane as a kid. I guess it was when I was younger, as I know I went to Hawaii with my folks and grandfather before my brother was born – but I don’t think I did much air travel as a kid. I remember flying when we moved to Florida, but not much before that. Keaton, by comparison, should be some 100k Red Carpet frequent flier. I tried counting up the times she’s been airborne: Florida and back six or seven times, Oregon and back ten or eleven times, and then Hawaii and Mexico. That’s more than fifty hours of in-air time. Not bad for a newly-minted two year-old. I mean, the girl has a freakin’ passport, with stamps! I didn’t even have a passport until I was twenty five or something. She’s so global.

She’s familiar with the whole process too. When we pushed her stroller up to the security line at the airport in Mexico, she reached down, took off her Crocs, and handed them up to Sharaun (yes, the TSA is worried about bombs in toddler-sized Crocs). After boarding and taking our seats, she hopped over to Sharaun’s lap by the window to look outside because she said she wanted to “See a suitcases mommy!” as they were being loaded onto the plane. As the crew started the safety announcements over the loudspeakers, she said, “The pilot says I wear my seatbelt!” And, taxiing to the runway for takeoff, she leaned into me and said, “Might be loud, daddy?” “Yes, it’s gonna get loud for a minute,” I answered. She’s a pro, I swear. Man I love that little girl.

OK folks, it’s a pretty clean case for winner right now, but in the spirit of fairness here’s this week’s You Decide Friday poll one last time before I have to start writing. Poll closes around noon today, so, if you haven’t voted yet, act fast. Have at it:

[poll=3]

And, changing subjects to wrap things up: Tonight I decided to put to good use some of the free space on my humongous 160GB iPod. I downloaded HandBrake and ripped some of my favorite Andy Griffith episodes (from the complete seasons DVDs) to iPod-compliant videos. I figure this way I can watch some of my favorite shows while I travel. I mean, there’s so much room on this dang thing, and even though I’ve got right around 100GB of music on there (which is a disgusting amount, actually), there’s still room to spare. So, I plan to rip some of my favorite DVDs (I don’t have many, I’m just not a huge DVD fan) and get them loaded. Things like The Goonies, Lord of the Rings, Andy Griffith, The Simpsons, y’know, stuff like that. Should be a good use of the space, and may even prove useful in a boring situation someday.

Goodnight my friends.

Posted on

before the pesos run out

Hey again amigos. Last full day in Mexico here. I can barely type for my fingers slipping around the keyboard on a sheen of my own tears. Next week it’s back to mowing lawns, conference calls, and e-mails. But, the next couple days… those are still ours.

Yesterday, as I waffled drowsily between some waking and drifting off beside the pool, I was thinking: I could probably conduct the sale of our house back in California without ever even leaving this resort. I could use the fax machine, telephone, and internet to liquidate our worldly possessions, taking care to have our most cherished items, as few as they are, shipped or stored (I mean, I’d need my hard drive of music… after all). With the money from the sale safely in the bank, I could set about finding some beachside accommodations here. Our little family could probably make it without a breadwinner for at least a few years before the pesos run out. Maybe we could even squat in one of the many aborted developments that line the beach just a few miles walk from here… that could save us some rent. Yeah, I think we…

I’m sorry, what?

Oh. Si, si. Uno mas, por favor.

Gracias.

Now, where was I… ? Eh, whatever. I think I’ll join Sharaun and Keaton in the pool; maybe splash Keaton with one of my famous camelballs or something. It was a good thought though…

And, closing out the week, a couple more teasers before I have to do a “right-proper” upload upon returning home. Wish a safe flight, OK (and that our airline doesn’t go out of business tomorrow or anything)?

See you next week (where I’ll also resume my post-accompanying images… the blog feels naked without them).

Posted on

quick hits from SOTB

Back from “date night” and Sharaun decided to read a bit, so I, as usual, turned to the soft glow of my laptop screen. Just thought I’d do some quick hits from south of the border.

Keaton’s pool floaty popped. She is still mourning.

People told me not to drink the water. I totally drink the water. Like, everyday I drink the water. No one can stop me now.

Tomorrow dawns day our sixth day in Mexico. Before I left, the ten day forecast for Playa Del Carmen showed rain and clouds every single day of our trip. So far, it hasn’t rained a drop.

The trip to the “off resort” beach today was by and large a bust. Lots of walking under the burning Mexican sun for something we had in our backyard at the resort. From now on we’re sticking to the beaches and pools right here where we’re staying (they’re better anyway…).

Sharaun and I went to some Mayan joint tonight for our date night, then strolled the shoplined streets down by the water. It was a great night out.

Spending all day in the water has done wonders for Keaton’s “socialization” to the stuff. She’s now much more outgoing when we’re swimming, even to the point of wanting to jump in from the deck (only when dad has his arms out to catch her, thankfully though). Back in Hawaii in October, she was still pretty skittish.

Well, that’s about all I’ve got.

Lastly, I’ve been trying not to spoil my post-vacation Keaton-gallery update, so ‘ll only post a couple quick pictures here. These, though, are a couple gems from the past couple days (see, she has more than that yellow bathing suit!).

Goodnight folks. Hasta whenever.

Posted on

getting pruny

Hi guys. Had some time. Wrote some blog.

Tomorrow we break the poolside routine and catch a shuttle bus to a local beach for a few hours. Then it’s “date night” for Sharaun and I while the friends we’re vacationing with watch the kids (was our night tonight tending to their brood). The rest of the week looks to be much like the week thus far: getting pruny in the pool or sunning alongside it. Oh, and eating and sleeping… can’t forget eating and sleeping.

Really though, most of my day is spent in the water. Keaton has a floaty thing she loves kicking around in, and I’ve been trying to invent a new game or two to play with her in it each day. So far, we have “spinning,” which is (hopefully) self explanatory; “flying,” which is when I lift her out of the water (still in her floaty), spin her over my head, and then splash her back down again. Today I invented “bouncing,” which is, again, a pretty simple bobbing up and down, and “camelballs,” which is what she calls it when I jump off the steps and splash her with a big wave (I called it “canonball,” the name-change was something she came up with). Like I said, we’ve been getting pruny.

Well, from the balcony, the last bits of sunlight from another day in Mexico are slipping into the ocean, and Keaton wanted to drop into the blog to say “Hi” before she has to go to bed for the night.

Until later. Adios amigos.

Posted on

hola amigos

Greetings from the therapeutic heat and humidity of far-from-work sunny Mexico.

A proper pictorial update when we’re back.

Now, though, Keaton says she’s ready to “float” again.

You’ll find us poolside, sans watches and cellphones.

Posted on

someone called me a writer

Happy Monday morning friends.

As you read this, I’m winging my way to South Carlolina via DC. A couple days there doing some sort of work-type stuff and I’m back home. Two days at work and then I hit the skies again, this time with family in-tow, for a weeklong vacation in Mexico. That said, that’ll likely be a pretty sparse week for blogging, so let’s enjoy this while we can.

Anyway, today (Sunday, as I write) was a good day. The girls all got together to do some winetasting, so I invited the abandoned guys over for a BBQ and some beer. I cooked up a ton of ribs, and we all ate to excess. Even the weather cooperated, for the most part.  And now, fresh from the shower where I tried, with some small success, to wash the stink of oak smoke off of my skin and out of my hair – I’m ready to start a blog.

Sometime Friday Keaton started showing signs of having a cold again: runny nose and coughing. By Saturday evening she was running a low fever and she was congested and having issues breathing. In fact, by later Saturday night her breathing had morphed into full-on wheezing, and was pretty shallow and fast. Sharaun called the doctor, and she said that, since we’ve been through something similar before, Keaton likely has an asthma-like reaction to some illnesses (I guess chestcolds or something). The last time she was breathing like this they actually gave her a breathing treatment at the pediatrician’s office. Anyway, she asked that we bring her in the next morning for another treatment, and so that they could give us a machine (called a nebulizer) of our own to continue the treatments at home.

For those not familiar, a nebulizer is basically a machine that vaporizes medicine in liquid form so that the user can inhale it directly. It’s used often to deliver the steroids that asthma sufferers use to get relief. In my youth, a good friend of Sharaun’s used nebulizer often for her asthma – and my buddies and I used to goof on her (in front of her, so it’s OK… right?) for it. I think it was the name that was hilarious to us, so futuristic sounding or something. We’d give her the Vulcan salute, and crack jokes about being on the bridge of starship or battling Klingons. Yeah, and now karma has turned it all around on me yet again. Anyway, the treatments really seem to help Keaton, and the doctor said it’s only temporary just to ensure we knock this cold out for good. Read ahead and you can even see a picture of babygirl “nebulizing.”

Changing subject… I upgraded to WordPress 2.5 over the weekend and everything seems to have come through OK for me (I’ve read of some folks having issues). So far, I like the new and improved backend overall, and I’ve reserved a special place in my will for the new image upload/link/align tool – which makes adding images to my posts so much easier. And, with the gallery capability being so integrated now, I don’t need to use the NexGen plugin anymore. Actually, I’m going to go ahead and try to do some 2.5 gallery beta-testing this week, by reviving an old sounds familiar weeklong gimmick from the past. I’m sure you are just dying to know which gimmick…. so…

Back in November of ought-four, I did a cool weeklong “thing” for the blog where I took pictures of what I did each day and posted them along with the entry. Ever since doing it I’ve told myself I needed to redo it, but I never have. So, in the spirit of doing all kindsa new kindsa stuff up in this camp, I’m gonna try it again this week. At our sawmill, we call this week “workweek fourteen,” which we abbreviate, all nerd-tastic, as WW14. So, this week will evermore be dubbed: In Pictures – WW14’08, or IPWW14’08 for… ummm… short. Anyway, one of the rules is imposed this time is that I’ll take only crappy images with my cellphone camera, partly since I’ll be traveling and won’t leave Sharaun without our “good” one, and partly also because I just always have it with me. No time like the present… so let start with Sunday in pictures:

Actually, as something of a postscript here, you may have noticed that those images are still in the old-gallery style (with the fancy popup browser). That’s because, try as I might, I couldn’t get WordPress’s built-in gallery to work how I wanted it to. I’ll keep working on it to try get it right, but for now, and so I can still do this week “In Pictures,” I’m sticking with what works. OK, that’s enough talk about WordPress. And, I think I’ve built up the daily-dose of pictures such that it’ll be hotly awaited each day (right?). And, wrapping up…

Before I go – I read this article with interest the other day, as it reminded me of something I’d written before here on the ol’ blog. I called it “Run 83,” but essentially it’s the same concept: Modern science pushes the limits of experimentation just a little too far and accidentally destroys everything. (A little self-promotion there, I suppose.)

In closing, the other day, someone called me a “writer.”

This someone is the kind of someone who knows me, knows I write here on this internet-website-online, and (I think) reads sounds familiar somewhat often. But, still. To hear someone call me a “writer,” a word used to describe an artist (good one, or not), was humbling.

That’s all. Goodnight.

Posted on

alternating fits of tears and rage


Hi Wednesday, it’s me here again… writing… again… about… stuff… again.

Tonight, Sharaun had a volleyball game and I stayed home with Keaton. I decided to make banana bread for some reason, maybe to finally get rid of those blackish bananas frozen solid and strewn about the freezer shelves. When I set it to bake, Keaton and I walked down to the mailbox (remote communal mailboxes are all the rage in new California developments, further promoting the laziness of USPS workers).

I was barefoot, and she had on one sock. She shouted at the neighbors finishing up their lawn work as I pulled her past in the wagon, “I’m riding in a wagon and going to get the mail!” “Sounds fun!,” they’d wave back. I occurred to me then, barefoot and pulling my daughter behind me in a wagon while my banana bread baked at home… I’m a straight-up woman. I’m just glad it wasn’t my time of the month, or the realization might have had me in alternating fits of tears and rage right there on the sidewalk. Sheesh.

But, coming back to reality… I’m sitting here on the couch (where I always sit), with my laptop on my lap (where it always is), typing, web-surfing, and listening to music (like I always do). Right now some Most Serene Republic has shuffled up on the iPod, and the scatterstep popcorn beat has me giddy. I seriously love this band, and their albums have really stood the test of time (can you call less than five years “time?”) for me.

On the new music tip, my primo-2008 playlist thus far consists of two measly albums. First, recently SNL-broken Vampire Weekend‘s debut, next, and finally, Cloud Cult‘s Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes), which I think comes out in April sometime. Looking forward, I’m anxiously awaiting leaks from The Unicorns, The Hold Steady, Sufjan Stevens, Of Montreal, and the Postal Service. Sounds like it could be a rad 2008, huh?

Changing subjects now, and bear with me on this one… it’s kinda odd.

Oftentimes, when I eat, I have some sort of sinus-based reaction. Back in my younger days, I can remember my mother referring to a family “curse” which was supposedly to blame for members of her bloodline going into sneezing fits shortly after meals. But, while the mixture of my father’s lineage seems to have spared me from that curse, I do seem to suffer from some milder form. See, when I eat, my nose sometimes decides to run. I know this is common with particularly spicy food, but for me it also tends to happen with regular, run-of-the-mill, meals too. It’s not like it comes in torrents or anything, more like an annoyance. Nevertheless, it causes me to reach for the nearest napkin to stem the tide.

The reason I’m writing about this here, honestly, is to criticize myself. Because, usually, the napkin I end up grabbing to swab my schnoz is the same napkin I’m using to dab my mouth between bites. I find this personally disgusting, but the reality is that I usually don’t even notice I’m doing it until I’ve already done it. At which point I immediate grab another napkin and dedicate it to either nose or mouth usage, trying to place one on either side of my plate for easy differentiation. When I catch myself doing this, I often wonder if my tablemates have also noticed… and what they must think. To those who sup with me regularly, I’m sorry – I’m working on it.

And with that, I believe it’s time to bid you all adieu, for I have nothing more to say (hard to imagine, right?). Time to put the laptop away until I do it all over again tomorrow. Love you all, goodnight.